Ubisoft has announced Ubisoft Quartz, a new platform for players to acquire Digits, the first playable NFTs in a AAA game

It was obviously only a matter of time before a gaming company made a foray into this field, and it seems that Ubisoft has become the first with the launch of the Ubisoft Quartz platform, which is dedicated to the exchange of digital assets, specifically NFTs. These digital assets go by the name of Digits and will make their debut in an existing Ubisoft title. We’re talking about the third-person shooter Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, which was released in July 2019 to a mixed reception among gamers.

As with the other NFTs, these digital assets leverage Blockchain technology to provide a certificate of ownership and generate value outside of the game, according to Ubisoft, the goal is to give back to users “the value they generate through the time they spend online”.

Each digit is a unique collectable with its own serial number for others to see in the game and tracks current and previous owners. These in-game collectables give players the ability to personalise their experience and “complete their missions in style”, and each digit comes with a certificate of ownership stored on blockchain, a decentralised technology powered by Ubisoft’s independent community. With Digits, items are no longer tied to a player’s inventory, as they can be put up for sale for other eligible players to purchase on third-party platforms.

“Our long-term efforts led us to understand how blockchain’s decentralised approach could genuinely turn players into stakeholders in our games, in a way that is also sustainable for our industry, putting the value they generate through the time they spend, the items they buy or the content they create online back into their hands,” said Nicolas Pouard, vice president of Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovation Lab.

As for environmental concerns, the technical director of the blockchain at Ubisoft, Didier Genevois, clarified that the network to be used, Tezos, consumes the same amount of energy as a 30-second video stream for each transaction.

To ensure players can use Digits to their full utility, Ubisoft Quartz will only be available to players who meet the following eligibility criteria: playing Ghost Recon Breakpoint on Ubisoft Connect for PC, reaching at least level 5 XP in the game, and being at least 18 years old.

Ubisoft Quartz will be available in beta from 9 December in the US, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Australia and Brazil. The experiment will start with three free digit drops on 9 December, 12 December and 15 December to reward the first players among the players. The digits can be claimed on the Ubisoft Quartz platform and played within Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Further drops are planned for early 2022, with more details to be shared later.

Source: beahero